ROCKVILLE, Md. — The father of two Montgomery County children missing since 2014 has lost hope that they’ll someday return home.
Troy Turner, the father of Sarah Hoggle, 3, and Jacob Hoggle, 2, long believed that his children were still alive, organizing searches for them and passing out fliers. But he now believes that their mother, Catherine Hoggle, killed them.
“I have held out hope that something else may have happened, as I think that any parent under theses circumstances would. But it has always been a faint hope, and I know now that with the passage of time that Catherine killed my babies,” Turner said Friday.
Hoggle, 30, of Clarksburg, indicted on murder charges for the disappearance and deaths of her two young children, was ordered held without bond during a court appearance Friday afternoon. She will return to Clifton T. Perkins Hospital where she has been undergoing treatment for more than two years.
A judge repeatedly has found Hoggle not competent to stand trial for misdemeanor charges related to her missing children. Those charges were dropped ahead of the grand jury indictment handed down on Thursday.
The new charges restart the prosecution clock, giving prosecutors another five years for Hoggle to regain her competency and to stand trial. Under Maryland law, if a defendant is deemed incompetent, misdemeanors or nonviolent crimes must be dismissed after three years. That deadline was fast approaching.
Hoggle’s mother, Lindsey Hoggle, said she welcomes the new charges because they will nudge the case forward. But she does not believe her daughter killed Sarah and Jacob and hopes that they are still alive.
Prosecutors said they have not unearthed any new evidence in the case. But investigators have long believed that the children were dead.
The indictment contains no details, but states that the children were killed sometime between Sept. 7 and 8, 2014.
“We’re still waiting to see what the evidence is relevant to the homicide charges,” defense attorney David Felsen said.
Hoggle, who has previously been diagnosed with paranoia and schizophrenia, was the last person to see the children alive and has given conflicting information about where they are.
Extensive searches of the Clarkburg and Darnestown areas turned up no sign of the children.
